The question is: will this make me faster?

Tuesday - April 22

Run

46m 30s

6.20 miles

07m 30s /Mi

Absolutely fantastic night for a run - 55 degrees and calm. Moderate pace for 10K. This was 3 1/2 minutes faster than 2 weeks ago, and probably 3 minutes slower than what I could have done if I was pushing myself.

I didn't run much harder than the last time I ran this route, but I just didn't slow myself down whenever my HR bumped above 150. Besides the last 0.3 mile or so when I was trying to hit the 46:30 mark (7:30 pace), my HR was never over 155. As you can tell, I'm still getting used to this whole HR training style.

Sunday - April 20

Bike

1h 08m 40s

24.80 miles

21.67 Mi/hr

So...the temperature was 70 degrees, sunny skies, light breeze...perfect day for a ride, right? Well, here is how the day goes. Wake up at 6:30 for church. Church and SS from 8-10:30. Get home at 11, go to lunch at 12 with Anisa's family. Company at our house until 3:15. Leave to go to some friends' house for a dinner/party starting at 4. Return home at 7:45. Baths for the girls and get them to bed at 8:30. Workouts are secondary thoughts around here.
I'll get outside for a ride someday. I'm still waiting for the aerobars to arrive so they can be installed and my bike setup fixed. There are still 2 months left to get used to the open road.

Saturday - April 19

Run

30m 17s

4.35 miles

06m 58s /Mi

I'm pretty happy with this run. It was a little chilly (45 degrees) and a light wind at 10 MPH, but not too bad.
For this run, I had always been using 4.5 miles as the distance last year. That is what I got when I drove it. On Google Maps it's 4.32, on the BT route tracker, it's 4.4. According to my GPS watch, it's 4.25. I trust the GPS the most, but I wonder if it keeps a tight watch on all the turns. What I mean is if you run up to a corner and make a turn, does it realize you went all the way to the corner, or does it think you cut across the grass? Does it spot your location continually, or does it just check every few seconds? I need to investigate further. For now, I'll call this a 4.3 mile run.
At 4.3 miles, it's 7:02 pace. At 4.25 miles, it's 7:08 pace. at 4.5 miles, it's 6:44 pace. I know I wasn't running that hard. But it's funny how a small discrepency in the distance can make such a difference in the pace calculation.
One thing I can say for sure about today's run - I've come a long way since last year. The tracking devices may change, but the geography doesn't. When I ran this same route last spring, I was usually in the 34-36 minute range. So I've certainly improved.

Friday - April 18

Swim

38m 25s

2187.23 yards

26m 21s /1500 yards

I haven't given myself a 5 for a workout for a while. I thought this was as deserving as any. I was able to stay below 2:00/100m pace for the entire distance. Splits were 9:40, 9:45, 9:30, and 9:30. I only really pushed myself for the last 200m or so.

Sport

Physical Therapy

40m

This will probably be my last PT appt. for a while. She gave me about 15 different drills to work on (not all on the same day, necessarily), that I can do at home, so I'll keep it going on my own.

At the ortho appt., he thought my flexibility and strength was improving, and my pain seems to be lessening, so we're going to continue the current course of action.
Ideally, of course, I'd take a month off, keep the PT going, then gradually work my way back into running. With my first tri 7 weeks away, that won't work, and since the pain is less, I'm OK with toughing it out for now. My running has only slipped a little. If I can make it through this season, I'll take some time in October/November to rest and recover.
Unfortunately, the marathon in October might not be possible. I might be able to train for the half, but we'll see. In the meantime, I'll just keep going and hopefully things will continue to slowly get better.
Something else that is interesting: my weight has gone up about 5-7 pounds in the past few months. I find it odd because I've continued to workout regularly, and my eating habits have remained the same (not great, but at least better than they were a year and a half ago). Furthermore, my waist is 2 inches smaller than it was before I started training, and really just the same as it was 6 months ago. The only thing I did differently over the past 6 months is the weight training for about 2 months, and the PT. Perhaps I've added muscle mass? I'm inching back up toward Clydesdale territory.

Thursday - April 17

Bike

45m

14.77 miles

19.69 Mi/hr

Motivation to ride in the basement is weakening. It's getting really hard to workout when the weather sucks so bad. And on top of it all, my knee has been pretty sore today. PT and ortho appt's in the morning tomorrow.

Well, I didn't make it to the pool today, but I finally got something done that has been needed for months now - I fixed my bike position problem (I think). I took the bike in and told them how the seat is so uncomfortable in the aero position. The 6" drop from seat to elbow pads is just too far - it puts tremendous pressure on my seat and too much weight on my arms. Plus, my knees come up so close to my chest that they flare out to the sides.
The guy says, "we can fix it, but it won't be cheap." Basically my two options were to 1. get a new fork and head tube, or 2. get a new stem, handlebars and aerobars. I opted for choice two. I was thinking he meant it was going to be a ton of money, but the final bill should be $250-$300, so that's manageable. I think to solve the comfort issue, it's well worth it. Plus, you guys won't have to hear me complain about my butt hurting anymore.